Tennessee Tourism

Background

The Tennessee Board of Tourism supports dozens of tourist sites and attractions within the state of Tennessee. The board functions as a state sponsored conduit for virtually all of the states revenue producing tourist attractions and venues.

In order to support every avenue of tourist revenue, the TBT must maintain competent and detailed information regarding each of their 5,300 contacts; all of which are held in one central database.

The Problem

As a state sponsored entity, TBT was in need of a solution that would enable them to reach all of their contacts quickly and easily without circumventing state regulations. By operating on state-run systems, the need to accomplish their goals without compromising firewalls, and other security measures proved to be a dilemma.

On a monthly basis, TBT sends over 20,000 emails. These emails are received by virtually all of the tourism industry. In addition to email blasts, newsletters and random emails go out in huge numbers to all channels of the tourism industry. The Tennessee Board of Tourism was stuck in a mode of operation that was ineffective in terms of time and in maintaining important contact information. The need to access specific groups, merge documents, and access crucial contact information in a timely manner was going unmet.

The Solution

Through the implementation of GroupLink’s ContactWise, the Tennessee Board of Tourism has experienced positive results in nearly every aspect of their business operations.

Patricia Gray oversees Web Development, Marketing and Research for the Tennessee Board of Tourism. “The benefits are very far-reaching,” said Mrs. Gray. “One of the first things my staff and I noticed was how significantly this solution reduced the time staff spent on every task “contact-related”, by providing a fast and reliable solution.” The benefits ContactWise provides in regard to contact management includes allowing users to quickly and accurately view information, maintain a history of contact relationships, and merge necessary channels for time-effective communications.

“This system allows us to insert all types of information with references to various individuals and attractions, and then when someone or something is pulled up we have instant access to viable contact information,” said Mrs. Gray. “The process of getting necessary emails out into the industry had been a very timely task before we implemented ContactWise. Working on [a Novell GroupWise or Microsoft Outlook platform], the ability to integrate GroupLink’s technology was huge for us. The ability we now have to group and merge pertinent information to the appropriate channel has been a wonderful development for us.”

Conclusion

Through the implementation of GroupLink’s ContactWise the Tennessee Board of Tourism has acquired the ability to quickly and effectively reach their thousands of contacts through email, record and maintain pertinent information specific to each of their contacts, and allocate increased time for their staff to maintain other responsibilities.